


Arrested and Development

by blue_veins



Series: The Blood is Love au [6]
Category: Rusty Quill RPF
Genre: Crime AU, Gen, and generally having a good time, arrested for fighting, at the very beginning, blood mention, tim is not a fan, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:02:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26149888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_veins/pseuds/blue_veins
Summary: Ben and Alex get arrested, Tim bails them out, and has a Talk with Ben.
Relationships: Ben Meredith & Tim Meredith, Ben Meredith/Alexander J. Newall
Series: The Blood is Love au [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878586
Kudos: 5





	Arrested and Development

**Author's Note:**

> what was that?? more of this au im obsessed with and only 5 people including me and felineladyy actually enjoy? why yes, don't mind if i do. 
> 
> this is a bit earlier, before Alex is Big Time, but he's working on it.

Ben broke the kiss as he heard footsteps coming down the hall, and attempted to slip off Alex’s lap. Alex took an extra moment to pull his face close, and lick the blood from where it dripped down his chin before releasing him. 

“Couldn’t let that go to waste.” 

“Cheeky.” Ben replied with a laugh.

Which meant both of them were smiling, and laughing softly when the door was opened, and Tim was revealed in the doorway with the cop that arrested them (Alex had yet to get this one onto his slowly expanding payroll). 

Tim… did not look happy. Which, to be fair, he was bailing them out at two in the morning, no one would be happy about that. But Tim looked positively  _ pissed _ . Ben hadn’t seen him this mad since he accidentally ripped Teddy when they were kids. Ben couldn’t have that. It physically pained him to see Tim like this. Time to lighten the mood.

“My hero! I knew you’d come!” Ben exclaimed dramatically, and draped himself over Tim’s side.

Tim sidestepped him and brushed his hand off his shoulder, “Not now, Ben.”

“Come on, Tim. Don’t be like that.” Tim flat out ignored him. Ben glanced back at Alex who just shrugged silently, and gave him a ‘I’m not going to be able to help this situation’ look. Ben pursed his lips as they left the building, and started walking down the street, and thought of how to continue, maybe if he gave Tim context he’d understand better. 

“You were arrested for instigating a bar fight. Four people went to hospital for it!” Tim physically had to pull himself together, taking a deep breath. Ben very pointedly did not mention the other three that wouldn’t be found until it was realized they were even missing; that information was not helpful right now.

Ben started walking sideways in an attempt to catch Tim’s eye, “They called us  _ gays _ , Tim. You know in  _ that _ tone. You know I can’t stand for that.” 

“I’ve told you before, you don’t need to beat up every homophobe you meet.” Tim muttered angrily, this wasn’t a new conversation, but this was the first time Ben had ever been arrested for it.

“Yeah, but. This was a special case. They were fucking wankhammers. Besides,” Ben spared a quick look at Alex, and lowered his voice, “It was directed mostly at Alex.” It was difficult for Ben to describe just how much it made his blood boil when someone insulted Alex. He wanted to rip their throats out, with his teeth. Not something that could be done in public… easily.

“Can we not do this right now? I’d rather not with anyone else around.” Tim very pointedly did not look at Alex, though to be fair he also likely meant not arguing in the street where anyone can hear them. 

Ben looked back at Alex who just nodded, he understood that, in the moment, he was only aggravating the issue. He reached out, and gently touched Ben’s wrist briefly before veering off and melting into the shadows. It still impressed Ben at how good Alex was at that. Just because he spent more time taking care of things from afar, didn’t mean he forgot anything he learned on the streets. 

Ben sighed internally, he would have liked to have taken care of Alex’s black eye himself, but he would make it up to Alex later. Instead he focused his full attention on the one who currently needed it. He reached out and gripped Tim’s hand, just like he used to when they were kids, “Hey, come on, Tim. Don’t be mad, I can’t function when you’re mad at me.”

Tim looked around, just realizing that Alex was no longer with them. He sighed heavily, but didn’t let go of Ben’s hand, a win in his book, “He’s bad news, Ben. You never used to get into this kind of trouble before.” 

It was a good thing Ben had learned how to school his face into neutrality long ago, because what Tim didn’t realize, was that Ben had very much been getting into trouble long before this, hell, even long before Alex, but he had always kept Tim well sheltered from that part of his life. 

They made it back to Tim’s flat by this point, and Tim let him in without a question. He sat down heavily on the couch, Ben following, hands still linked, “It’s just - I never see you anymore, you’re  _ always _ with him, ever since I got back from uni. And, christ, he’s just - he’s no good for you Ben, I’ve heard the rumors and I know you have too. I  _ worry _ about you. We used to hang out all the time, but you haven’t visited in  _ weeks _ and the first time I hear from you it’s to bail you out of jail?” 

Ben was about to give some sort of explanation when a realization smacked him right in the face, and he smiled real big. “Are you mad because I got arrested, or are you mad because I was with Alex?”

“I - no. I’m -” Tim started to splutter, and Ben couldn’t help the giggle that escaped him.

“Are you jealous of Alex, little brother?” 

“ _ No _ . No, I’m not.” Tim was lying through his teeth - Ben could tell - and it wasn’t just because he was pink right up to his eartips. 

Ben gave a little squeeze to his hand, no need to aggravate the issue right now, it was enough that Ben knew, he could work on mending the gap between them now, and hopefully build a bridge for the much larger gap between Tim and Alex. 

“Okay, okay. I believe you. It’s just, Alex is…. Alex has become very important to me, and I, to him,” Ben held up his free hand before Tim could interject, “but you are right, I haven’t come to visit nearly enough, I’ve gotten caught up in current projects and the like, but that isn’t an excuse to not visit my baby brother now that he’s back home.”

Tim sat there in thought for a few minutes, “So… no changing your mind about Alex?”

“No.” He kept his tone gentle, but firm. This was one thing Ben was unwilling to move on. Alex was the most important person in his life besides Tim, he wasn’t giving him up, ever. 

Tim sighed but nodded. He peeked over at Ben from the corner of his eye, “But you’ll come over more?”

Ben bumped shoulders, “Yeah, I will. I mean, since I’m here I could just spend the night.” Ben did a big exaggerated stretch, half leaning onto Tim, pretending to fall asleep.

“Ugh, Get off. You smell like a bar threw up on you.” Tim shoved at Ben’s dead weight.

Ben thought about the variety of bottles of alcohol he smashed to use as makeshift weapons. Yeah, that scanned. 

“What if I showered first? Will you let me stay, brother-mine?” Ben gave Tim his best puppy dog eyes, used with about a 90% success rate.

“Ugh, fine. You can stay, but you’re sleeping out here. You’re gonna need to shower like four times to get that stink off you.” Tim was attempting to keep a stern expression, but Ben could see the smile peeking through. Ben had done well to get back into Tim’s good books. 

Ben pulled out his phone as he got up to head to the shower, sending a message to Alex to let him know where he was, and that he wouldn’t be back tonight. He only hoped Alex would still rest without him there to force him to. He’d just have to doubly make it up to him when they were together next. 

For now Ben was glad he had been able to mend a bit of the tear in his relationship with Tim. He really would work on a better balance between both Alex, Tim and his work. Ideally, he would eventually have all three within close proximity. But that was a thought for a later date. For now, he would be happy with what he had.


End file.
